Method of making stitchdown shoes



A m a. 1

y 27, 1954 v F. AsHwoRTH ET AL 7 2,684,494

METHOD OF MAKING STITCHDOWN SHOES Original Filed April 18, 1952 Wed As/zwort/z Jsepk 7E. foarznz'llz' By their Attorney Patented July 27, 1954 assign 2,684,494 METHOD OF MAKING STITCHDOWN SHOES Fred Ashworth, Wenham, and Joseph R. Ioannilli,

Beverly, Mass, assignors to United Shoe Machinery Corporation, Fiemington, N. J., a corporation of New Jersey Original application April 18, 1952, Serial No. 283,051, Divided and this application October 5, 1953, Serial No. 384,032

3 Claims.

The present invention relates to methods of making shoes, more particularly that class of shoe disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 2,467,466, granted April 19, 1949, in the name of L. S. Curtin, in whirh a sole unit is permanently attached to the cutfianged marginal portion of a stitchdown shoe upper while mounted upon a last, the projecting marginal portions of the shoe being rough-rounded with a variable width edge about the shoe after a practice commonly employed in the manufacture of Goodyear welt shoes. In such Goodyear welt practice the variable width projecting marginal portion of a shoe frequently is designated as a Baltimore edge.

The usual procedure in the manufacture of stitchdown shoes consists in applying a sole to a last, lasting an upper over the last with the marginal portions outfianged and engaged with the projecting marginal portion of the sole unit. The engaging portions of the sole and upper are then rough-rounded with a uniform extension projecting from the bottom surface of the last. To complete the shoe a welt is laid in the crevice between the bulging last-supported surface and sole-engaging outflanged portion of the upper. An outsole is then sewed to the shoe with stitches passing through the welt to secure a permanent attachment of the parts.

In sewing the parts together a stitchdown shoe is presented ordinarily to an outsole stitcher similar to that disclosed in United States Letters Patent No. 2,013,751, granted September 10, 1935, in the name of A. Eppler. This machine is provided with a fixed work support against which the bulging last-supported surface of the upper is guided and a welt guide passage in the wort: support directs a stitchdown welt into the crevice of the shoe in advance of the sewing point in the machine. No edge gage is employed in the machine so that the seam line is directed a uniform distance from the crevice throughout the length of the projecting marginal portions of the parts. The projecting marginal portions of the shoe are then trimmed and finished along their edges following the lines to which they were originally rough-rounded and sewed.

Because of the uniform marginal projections along the edges of the upper and sole unit the usual stitchdown shoe is readily distinguishable in appearance from a Goodyear welt shoe having a variable width or Baltimore edge, except for the stitchdown type of shoe disclosed in the Curtin patent above noted. If an attempt is made to provide a Baltimore or other variable width edge on a stitchdown shoe, according to usual procedures, the line of stitches does not follow the edge so that the decorative appearance is impaired and an opportunity for curling and separation along the edges of the wider parts is introduced.

To secure a construction having the appearance of a Goodyear welt shoe, the parts of the stitchdown shoe disclosed in the Curtin patent are temporarily attached by cement, and are brought into cooperative relationship by suitable lasting and forming machines with a stitchdown welt laid on the outfianged margin of the upper while the shoe is supported on a last, the welt being temporarily secured in the crevice between the last-supported and the outfianged marginal portions of the upper. The projecting margins of the welt, upper and sole are then roughrounded before stitching to provide a relatively wide extension in the forepart and a narrow extension both in the shank of the shoe and at the toe in accordance with Goodyear welt shoe practice. After temporary assembly of the parts, a permanent attachment is made in the Curtin shoe by inserting an outseam, the stitches of which pass through the welt, outflanged margin of the upper and sole at a uniform distance from the rough-rounded edge of the sole, imparting an acceptable and pleasing appearance with a reliable shoe structure resulting. To insert the outseam, an outsole stitcher is employed having an edge gage for guiding the seam a uniform distance from the rough-rounded edges.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method of making shoes of the stitchdown type in which it is no longer necessary to secure a welt temporarily to the projecting margin of an outsole by cement as a separate operation before the shoe is rough-rounded, as disclosed in the Curtin patent. Further objects are to enable more effective manufacture of stitchdown shoes, the marginal portions along the outfianged upper and projecting sole in which are rough-rounded with a variable width extension, in a manner that will result in proper assembly and permanent attachment of a welt to the other parts of the shoe in a single operation including the insertion of a line of stitches passing through the parts at a uniform distance from their roughrounded edges. Still further and more general objects are to improve the manufacture of such shoes by eliminating one or more operations required in the Curtin shoe while retaining the advantages of a reliable shoe construction and ease of assembly considered highly desirable with acceptable manufacturing procedures.

In accordance with a method hereinafter described, an outflanged upper and a sole member after being conformed to a last are roughrounded with a variable width extension and the sewing operation is guided by a fixed edge gage while introducing a welt into the seam inserted. The welt is of greater width than the widest extension on the outfianged marginal portion of of the upper to insure covering the widest extension of said outflanged portion. The excess welt projecting from the narrowest extension on the outflangedupper'thereafter is trimmed into line with the edge of the upper while finishing the sole edge so that no separate trimming or rough-rounding operation is needed.

These and other features of the inventionas hereinafter described and claimed will readily be apparent from the following detailed description and accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a perspective View of certain of the stitch forming and work engaging devices in a machine embodying the featuresof the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view on an enlarged scale of the work support, presser foot, edge gage and shoe arts operated upon in the machine of Fig. 1. looking from the right; and

Fig. 3 is a plan view of a portion of a shoe and some of the work engaging devices in the ma chine, shown while the sewing operation is being performed.

The machine illustrated in the drawings for use in practising the method is intended for operation upon a stitchdown shoe comprising an upper and a sole unit conformed to a last t. The sole unit includes an insole 5 mounted upon the last with its marginal projection secured to the outflanged margin of the upper, indicatedat 8, by stitches in as shown in Fig. 2. If an outsole i2 also is to be used it is temporarly attached to the insole by cement. Ordinarily a stitchdown welt is applied in superposed relation to the other parts in the shoe during the operation on a sewing machine which permanently attaches the parts, the usualv stitchdown machine being equipped with a work support having a welt guide arranged in advance of thesewing point.

A prerequisite to acceptable stitchdown welt sewing practice is edgewise pressure against the welt to seat it firmly within the crevice of a stitchdown shoe between the bulging last-supported and outflanged portions of the upper so that no gap will appear between the upper and theinner edge of the welt. Heretoforerfirm seating or" the welt in superposed relation to the upper of a stitchdown shoe crevice has been obtained in a sewing machine by the welt guide in the work support and by an integral block-shaped welt.

gage on the work support directly behind the sewing point, the welt guide directing the welt upwardly onto the work engaging surface of the i work support with the outer edge of the welt maintained in firm engagement with the welt gage. Because the added duty of properly seating the welt within the crevice of a stitchdown shoe requires extra attention on the part of the machine operator, manufacturers of stitchdown shoes have been content to produce shoes which have their sole edges conformed with the line of the seam securing the welt permanently in position. The belief has been that the use of a variable extension or Baltimore edge would present an insurmountable burden on the operator so that attempts to manufacture stitchdown shoes with variable width extensions have been avoided.

If a shoe having a variable width extension or Baltimore edge along its projecting marginal portions, as indicated in Fig. 3, is presented to an outsole stitcher of the usual construction with no edge gage for the sole but with a fixed work support formed with a welt guide passage and a welt gage for guiding the welt to the sewing point, in accordance with prior stitchdown prac-. tice the welt will be pressed uniformly against the bulging last-supported surface of the upper and secured within the crevioeof the shoe in an acceptable manner but the seam line will not follow the edge of the sole along the variable width extension portions. Not only will the ap pearance of the shoe be adversely affected by such construction, especially along the wider portions of the marginal extension, but the seam actually may run off the edges of the parts along the portion of narrower extensions unless precautionsare taken. It thus appears that for satisfactorily sewing a stitchdown shoe and applying a welt where a variable width or Baltimore edge extension is employed in a single operation there must be two se arate guiding devices, one of which presses the welt into the shoe crevice and the other of which guides the line of the seam a uniform distance from the variable width edge regardless of the width of extension. The only other alternative to practical stitchdown shoe construction employing a variable width extension is that disclosed in the Curtin patent above identified in which a separate operation is required to attach the welt temporarily before sewing.

Before the sewing operation on the marginal projections of the shoe parts is performed, in accordance with the practice of the present invention, the sole unit including the insole 6, the outsole l2 and the outfianged margin of the upper 8 are rough-rounded in a manner commonly employed in the manufacture of Goodyear welt. shoes, with a variable width extension or Baltimore edge along the margins of the parts (Fig. 3). The line along which the parts are rough-rounded, as indicated at M, provides the widest extension along the forepart and thenarrowest extensions in the shank and extreme toe end of the shoe. During sewing, the roughrounded edges of the parts are guided by an edge gage so that the line i l gives direction to the shoe outsearn shown in Figs. 2 and 3 at i5. This is the usual practice with Goodyear shoe manufacture. A commercial form of roughrounding machine accordingly is employedand the configuration is determined in large part by the skill of the operator.

As has been indicated, the method of the present invention consists in sewing the marginal portions of a variable width extension edge on a stitchdown shoe with a seam spaced a uniform distance from the edges of the parts, while introducing into the scam the stichdown welt so that temporary attachment of the welt to the extension edges, as disclosed in the Curtin patent in a separate operation, is no longer necessary. To this end the machine has a work support It constructed in a manner similar to acceptable practice at its work engaging end. The work support has a stitchdown welt guide 18 formed as an integral passage leading onto the work engaging surface of the support and a stitchdown welt gage 2c in the form of a shoulder on an integral block at the rear of an opening 22 through which the stitch forming devices pass.

The stitch forming devices of the machine include a conventional curved hook needle 2t, and

a curved awl 25 moving through the opening 22 In the machine of the Ashworth patent the work support is secured rigidly to the frame of the machine and a shoe being operated on is guided along the work engaging surface of the Work support by an edge gage separate from the welt gage, which edge gage is secured to a shiftable carrier connected for manual control during sewin operations.

In the machine the manner of mounting the work support and the edge gage is reversed, resilient means being provided to press the work support yieldingly against the bulging last-supported surface of the upper in the shoe, two extreme positions in the yielding movement of the work support being illustrated by the solid and dot-dash lines of Fig. 2. The edge gage of the present machine is indicated at 34 and is rigidly clamped by a cap screw 36 to a member of the machine frame indicated at 38, but is adjustable by loosening the cap screw which passes through a slot in the shank of the edge gage. The work support I6, in turn, has a downwardly extending slotted shank secured to a swinging carrier 46 shiftable transversely to the line of the seam, as previously employed for mounting the edge gage, the work support being movable as a unit with the carrier.

The shiftable worksupport carrier in in the illustrated machine has a pivotal mounting consisting of a rotatable stud 42 passing loosely through a bearing in a frame member 44 and the stud is retained in the bearing against lengthwise movement by a cotter pin 46. Secured to the stud 42 is a lever 48. To press the work support against the shoe a downwardly extending arm of the lever 48 has connected to it the forward end of a tension spring 50 also fastened to a fixed portion of the machine frame. The spring 5!] acts to maintain the work support yieldingly against the bulging last-supported surface of the shoe upper, the axis of the stud 42 being so disposed as to cause the work support It to be shiftable with the carrier 40 transversely of the seam line.

To limit the shifting movement of the work support so that the opening 22 therein will not move out of line with the needle or awl, the upper arm of the lever 48 is forked and the fork ends have passing through them a pair of stop screws 52 provided with check nuts. The stop screws have their ends directed toward each other to engage alternately a stud 54 secured in a stationar frame member 56 with sufficient free motion to insure proper yielding action of the work support.

If a rough-rounded shoe of the stitchdown or similar type is presented to the illustrated machine, the shoe will be guided by the edge gage 3G to insert an outseam a uniform distance throughout its length from the outline H! of the outfianged upper edge. At the same time a welt, indicated at 58', passing through the guide 13 will be forced by the welt gage 20 on the work support with a uniform yielding pressure into the crevice between the bulging and outfianged portions of the upper. These results are obtained through the differential action of the edge gage 34 and the welt gage in directing the seam on the one hand and the welt on the other uniformly into proper sewing positions.

To insure covering the widest extension of the outfianged upper along the forepart of a shoe the welt 58 employed is of greater than usual width.

Therefore, along the narrowest extensions of the parts at the shank and toe of the shoe, the welt will project somewhat beyond the rough-rounded outline I4 of the upper and sole. For this reason, the edge gage 34 is located above the welt gage 20 to clear the projecting portion of the welt. The thickness of the welt is such that it may readily be trimmed without special precautions or attention during the usual edge trimming and finishing operations on the shoes after the sewing is completed.

In actual practice of the method it has been found that the results desired may be accomplished by an operator skilled only in the attachment of outsoles without other training or precaution. The work support moves yieldingly without the exercise of special skill or ability on the part of the operator and results are accomplished with great uniformity, giving a desirable appearance to the shoe which cannot be distinguished from a Goodyear welt shoe without close inspection.

The machine herein disclosed is being claimed in a copending application Serial No. 283,051,

filed April 18, 1952, in our names, of which the present application is a division.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. The method of manufacturing a stitchdown shoe having marginal portions of its outfianged upper and sole member attached together while supported on a last, which comprises roughrounding the marginal portions of the shoe to provide a variable width extension along the outflanged upper and sole member, sewing the marginal portions together with a seam spaced a uniform distance from the rough-rounded edges, and introducing a welt into the seam during sewing operations.

2. The method of manufacturing a stitchdown shoe having marginal portions of its outflanged upper and sole member attached together while supporting on a last, which comprises roughrounding the marginal portions of the shoe to provide a variable width extension along the outflanged upper and sole member, sewing the marginal portions together with a seam spaced a uniform distance from the rough-rounded edges,

' and introducing into the seam a welt of greater width than the narrowest extension on the outfianged marginal portion of the upper to insure covering the widest extension of said outflanged portion.

3. The method of manufacturing a stitchdown shoe having marginal portions of its outflanged upper and sole member attached together while supported on a' last, which comprises roughrounding the marginal portions of the shoe to provide a variable width extension along the outflanged upper and sole member, sewing the marginal portions together with a seam spaced a uniform distance from the rough-rounded edges, introducing into the seam a welt of greater width than the widest extension on the outflanged marginal portion of the upper to insure covering the widest extension of said outfianged portion, and trimming the excess welt from the narrowest extension on the outfianged marginal portions of the upper into line with the rough-rounded edge of the upper.

No references cited. 

